It is known to attach coins or other small objects to packages of goods, especially to cigarette packs. Devices for accomplishing this are commonly found in the conveyor path of a packaging machine wherein coins or the like can be delivered to the side of a pack and can be held there until the coins are finally secured tightly to the pack with a sheathing of paper or film which forms the conventional package cover.
This type of coin attachment, in which the packs are prepared for sale by dispensing in automatic dispensing machines, are arranged such that the coins lie between the long side of the parallelepipedic package and the film wrapping around the pack, and the same technique has been used for both soft and hard packs. The hard packs, referred to as boxes, hard packs or hinge-lid packs, are generally formed of a rather stiff material such as cardboard and include a hinged cover forming the top of the pack. The cover is hinged along a fold line extending transversely across the back of the pack, the front and side flaps in the closed position terminate at lower edges which lie in a separation plane which runs obliquely forward, preferably downwardly from the hinge line, the abutment edges thereof limiting the pack opening. In addition, inside of the lid, there is normally an insert which projects from the pack opening and includes at least one portion lying immediately behind the front flop of the lid when it is closed.
With such hard packs, and because of the high work speeds with machine packaging, coins attached to the packs can easily damage the foil wrap around the pack. Thus, not only is the freshness of the product contained therein adversely affected when the wrap is damaged, but in addition the appearance of the finished pack and the security of attachment of the coins or the like is adversely affected.